Doggy Daycare Says St. Bernard That Was Punched In The Head Kept Biting People In The Face

The St. Bernard that was pinned to the ground and repeatedly punched in the head at a Bridgeville dog daycare tried to bite people in the face nearly every day, according to a statement posted on The Canine Club’s website yesterday.

Last night, WTAE broadcast a surveillance video that shows a male worker interacting with the dog. The St. Bernard then approaches a female staffer who pets the dog and scratches its head. Then, the dog jumps toward the male. As the man walks away, the dog runs after him and jumps up again. The man backs away and the dog follows, after which the male punches the dog four times, pins it to the ground, the delivers two more strikes.

The Canine Club suggests that the video creates an inaccurate impression of what happened.

“When the dog was jumping up, he was growling and attempting to bite the face of our staff member,” the businesses’ statement reads. “The dog was not ‘trying to play.’ The dog continued to growl and bite even when he was on the ground. The other staff members, including those in the video, became afraid of the dog and didn’t try to help.”

According to the Canine Club, the dog had been brought to the facility from a St. Bernard rescue organization and regularly tried to attack staffers:

Unfortunately, this dog immediately started biting at staff members
consistently and on a daily basis. The bites were almost always aimed
for the face.

Worse yet the dog bit the St. Bernard rescue volunteer who brought him
to us on the face and drew blood a few days after he was dropped off.

When we realized the nature of the dog, We implored the St. Bernard
rescue to take the dog to a trainer but were repeatedly told we would
have to wait.

The dog was taken by the Rescue at one point to be neutered and was
then to go to a foster, however he was returned the same day as he
attacked and tried to bite the vet and the vet then refused to treat
the dog.

In the end, the dog was “put down” by the St. Bernard rescue shortly
after he left our facility as he attempted to attack 3 other people on
3 separate occasions.

The incident happened a year ago, WTAE reports, but it wasn’t until earlier this month that the employee was found guilty of one count of a summary charge of animal cruelty. Two related charges were dismissed.

On Wednesday afternoon, WTAE updated its web story to reflect the Canine Club’s statement, although, as of 5:15 PM, the video version of the story hasn’t been updated.